#1
This is very tragic. I just started listening to Chris' autobiography on audiobook this afternoon. Very honest story. He was a remarkable man and a patriot. Very sad to have been murdered right near home. Pray for his widow Taya and their children.

#4
Sad loss to the families involved, and sad loss to America.
Have heard various stories already and can only conclude that we don't know what happened. Was Routh the shooter? Had he been deployed? Did he suffer PTSD? Was PTSD the cause? Was Kyle the target? Or was there a 'cheating' thing with the other guy and Kyle was just collateral damage? And that's without even starting on all the tinfoil hat stuff (which, though unlikely, is not impossible.)

#6
Investigators said that Routh, a former Marine who sources said is believed to suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome, shot Kyle and the second victim at point-blank range. No information was available on the second victim late Saturday.

Kyle grew up in Texas and spent much of his time riding horses and participating on the school rodeo team. His life quickly changed when he decided to go into the military and became a Navy SEAL. He deployed four times to Iraq. Kyle held the record for number of kills by an American sniper. The Pentagon has confirmed more than 150 of his kills. The previous record was 109.

"When I grew up, I only had two dreams, he told The News in January 2012. One was to be a cowboy and another was to be in the military. I grew up extremely patriotic and riding horses. I went to college and was working at a ranch up there. Sunup, sundown, I was in a saddle. By the time I was 24, I decided it was time to go into the military and try it out. It wasnt exactly the SEALs I was looking for at the time. I just wanted to go into the military and be the best.

#11
Very tragic loss. Prayers for his family. I'll have to read his book.

Public ranges in the USA can be dangerous. I saw a report that Kyle's companion was a woman. So I'm wondering if this is basically a three-way romance .... things like that have a habit of causing someone to wind up dead.

#12
Wasn't a woman, second victim was 35-year-old Chad Littlefield of Midlothian. Chris was apparently helping out with a Wounded Warrior thing and mentoring PTSD soldiers, taking them to the range, ect. The shooter was apparently one of the patients in the program. Routh then stole Kyles truck and fled, being chased down and captured by police thereafter.

Something went horribly wrong here, a PTSD patient at a gun range? Either somebody misdiagnosed how sever it was, or there's another reason for the shooting we don't know yet.

#16
Oh please. The admin has been floating a no vets policy pertaining to guhns with the catch that they (all) have PTSD or some other "mental" situation that would prevent them from owning wepins. So no one with recent military experience allowed, unless loyal to the O. This was a two-fer. One crack disloyal sniper gone and one agenda furthered.

#23
The young man's mother asked that Chris Kyle take time with her son, who killed Chris and Littlefield. What she may have failed to disclose is that there are several police reports of people who have asked for help in handling Routh's extremely phsychotic behavior on occasion while they were in his presence. Local news in Dallas are awaiting copies of those police reports from several police agencies. He was supposed to have been subscribed medication by a local VA hospital. Whether he was on that medication is not known.

[FRANCE24] French troops will withdraw from Mali only once they had completed their mission of helping the country regain full control of its territory, President François Hollande said Saturday during a visit to Timbuktu, where was cheered as a saviour.

#1
From what I can tell, the French have wisely used an economy of force approach to accomplish well established, achievable goals and objectives. They have selected specific targets and partnered with host nation forces to move on an axis of advance to successfully engage each target and kill as many of the enemy as possible. Their intelligence effort appears to be focused to support the maneuver commander in a logical, sequential manner, which will lead to the defeat of the enemy, eventual victory, and deployment home.

I doubt the French will get bogged down in some costly and meaningless, civil-military extended peace keeping mission or police action which attempts to train host nation forces, build schools, and establish western governance. I doubt their intelligence effort will be fragmented into a provincial structure of FBI style [ten or one hundred most wanted] quasi warranted searches feeding a dozen different customers [some military - some not], each refusing to share information.

I suspect the French will reject the strategy of 100 little "hearts and minds" wars in favour of a speedy conflict focused on the killing and defeat of as many of the enemy as possible and victory.

[An Nahar] U.S. Vice President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid BidenThe former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body... on Saturday "applauded" La Belle France's intervention against Islamists in Mali, as the EU's foreign policy chief defended the bloc's contribution to support the offensive.

Biden said that dealing with beturbanned goons in North Africa and parts of the Middle East now required "a more integrated strategy" and using the "full range of the tools at our disposal".

"That's why the United States applauds and stands with La Belle France and other partners in Mali, and why we are providing intelligence support, transportation for the French and African troops and refueling capability for French aircraft," he said.

"The fight against AQIM (al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) may be far from America's borders, but it is fundamentally in America's interest," he added.

[An Nahar] Egypt's main opposition group on Saturday backed calls to oust President Mohamed Morsi and demanded he go on trial after deadly festivities left the Islamist leader scrambling to contain fallout from footage of police brutality.

The opposition National Salvation Front demanded Morsi be prosecuted for "killings and torture" as it urged Egyptians to stage peaceful protests.

"The Salvation Front completely sides with the people and its active forces' calls to topple the authoritarian regime and the Moslem Brüderbund's control," it said in a statement.

It said Morsi should be put on trial after an "impartial investigation" and ruled out dialogue with the presidency until "the bloodletting stops and those responsible for it are held accountable."

But, in a possible sign of differences in a troubled coalition that comprises liberals and leftists, NSF members disagreed on the statement's intent.

"We are calling for the downfall of the regime of tyranny, not the regime," said Khaled Dawoud, the NSF's front man, explaining it meant "the abuse of citizens and torture and ignoring the demands of the opposition."

But another NSF member, Hussein Abdel Ghani, said: "I think this statement can be read to mean only one thing, which is to topple Morsi's government."

Clashes on Friday night between protesters and police outside the presidential palace left one dead, and police were filmed beating and dragging off another man, in the wake of festivities last week that killed nearly 60 people.

The beating was "an inhumane spectacle ... no less ugly than the killings of deaders, which is considered a continuation of the security force's program of excessive force," the NSF said.

A 23-year-old was rubbed out and 91 people were maimed in Friday's festivities, a medic said, while the interior ministry reported 15 of its men maimed by birdshot.

Police said they made 20 arrests, and they were filmed on television beating and dragging a naked man to an armored vehicle, outraging Morsi's critics who compared the incident to practices under deposed president Hosni Mubarak...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim has ordered a probe to "hold accountable" the coppers who beat the man, his office said. He would resign if "that's what the people want."

[Libya Herald] There were small demonstrations today in Sebha as well as Obari and nearby Maknusa by Tuaregs protesting at what they called "ethnic cleansing" in northern Mali.

The protestors, reported as no more than 100 in each of the towns, called for an end to attacks on Tuaregs and Arabs in what they referred to as Azawad, the name the Tuareg gave to their abortive independent state in the north of Mali.

There have been reports of atrocities, including summary executions and rapes, carried out by the Malian army in the wake of the military operation led by the French to free the region from the control of militant Islamists. Tuaregs and Arabs in the area have been accused of supporting the fleeing militants.

[An Nahar] Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi vowed security forces will "act with utmost decisiveness" to protect state buildings, as protesters clashed with police outside the presidential palace on Friday.

And then they apologize for showing the police beating a protester on TV. Which is it here, Mohamed, iron fist or crocodile tears?

The presidency, in a statement posted on his Facebook page, also said it would hold "politically accountable" opposition groups behind the violence. It said protesters had tried to break down the palace gates and scale its walls, and demanded that opposition groups denounce the violence and call on their followers to withdraw.

The opposition National Salvation Front, which called for mass rallies on Friday, said it "had no connection whatsoever with the trouble that erupted suddenly in front of the presidential palace."

It said the NSP condemned all acts of violence and urged security forces to exercise "utmost restraint" with the protesters.

Anything less than receiving exactly what he dished out is getting off light. Driil here, drill now.

A Saudi preacher who raped his five-year-old daughter and tortured her to death has been sentenced to pay "blood money" to the mother after having served a short jail term, activists said on Saturday.

Lamia al-Ghamdi was admitted to hospital on December 25, 2011 with multiple injuries, including a crushed skull, broken ribs and left arm, extensive bruising and burns, the activists said. She died last October 22.

Fayhan al-Ghamdi, an Islamic preacher and regular guest on Muslim television networks, confessed to having used cables and a cane to inflict the injuries, the activists from the group "Women to Drive" said in a statement.

They said the father had doubted Lama's virginity and had her checked up by a medic.At age five?
Randa al-Kaleeb, a social worker from the hospital where Lama was admitted, said the girl's back was broken and that she had been raped "everywhere", according to the group.

According to the victim's mother, hospital staff told her that her "child's rectum had been torn open and the abuser had attempted to burn it closed."

The activists said that the judge had ruled the prosecution could only seek "blood money (compensation for the next of kin under Islamic law) and the time the defendant had served in prison since Lama's death suffices as punishment."

Three Saudi activists, including Manal al-Sharif, have raised objections to the ruling.

The ruling is based on Islamic laws that a father cannot be executed for murdering his children, nor can husbands be executed for murdering their wives, activists said.

Do you have any Moslem friends and neighbors? Take a good look at them. See if they celebrate the Fourth of July at all.
Bet you they don't. What do you bet?

you don't have to do a thing, just take a look at them next fourth of July. I know Christmas....but what about the 4th of July? Ever seen any USMC bumper sticker on their car in the driveway? No?
I wonder why.

#6
Interesting studies and research have been going on for sometime with regard to sign-language and pre-speech developed toddlers. I'm waiting for someone to document fetal signals and communications from the womb.

[Bangla Daily Star] Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since 1981. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide... yesterday called upon all to re-elect Awami League for a second successive term to free the nation from the clutches of Jamaat-Shibir and their cohorts.

"It is the nature of Jamaat-Shibir and their cohorts to kill people by pouring petrol and cutting veins and wrists. So you will have to cast your vote for Awami League again to free the nation from the clutches of Jamaat-Shibir and their cohorts," she said.

The prime minister was addressing a mammoth public rally at Bera College ground after inaugurating a 70-MW power plant built by the Power Development Board here.

Hasina, also the president of Awami League, congratulated the people of Bera for turning down Matiur Rahman Nizami, the infamous Al-Badr chief during the Liberation War, in the last general elections.

About the ongoing trial of war criminals, she said the present government had pledged to people to try the war criminals to free the nation from a stigma. "We have kept our commitment through the verdict against Bacchu Razakar by the International Crimes Tribunal."

In this connection, she said the country moved backwards for several years due to the rule of anti-liberation forces after the liquidation of Bangabandhu in 1975.

The leader of the opposition is engaged in a tricky game to save the war criminals, she complained. "So I call upon all to remain alert about her [Khaleda ZiaThree-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...] conspiracy."

Hasina said the AL government in 1996 had started the work to move the country forward, but it was stopped when the BNP- Jamaat alliance government took over in 2001.

Returning to power in 2008, the AL government resumed its work to take the country to the "highway of development," she added, urging people to cast their vote for her party again for the continuation of the development work.

The support network for Britains special forces is facing major cutbacks with around 600 posts earmarked to be lost in a reorganisation to coincide with the military pull-out from Afghanistan.

Sources told The Sunday Telegraph that the controversial move could become necessary because the campaign had seen a build-up of support and logistics to enable elite squads to carry out their operations which would no longer be necessary.

The proposals, drawn up at the Ministry of Defence, do not affect the fighting troops of the Special Air Service or the Special Boat Service.

However 156 posts are expected to be lost from the Special Forces Support Group, which provides infantry and specialised support to SAS and SBS operations. The rest of the 600 posts are from units providing vehicles, signals, logistics and intelligence  the key enablers which allow elite troops to operate.

The plans come in the wake of last weeks confusion over the Coalitions plans for future overall spending on defence.

David Cameron suggested that totals would be increased year on year from 2015, following the next Whitehall spending review. But Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, later said the increase would apply only to equipment.

Mr Hammond today opens up a new rift with the Liberal Democrats over the future of Britains independent nuclear deterrent. He uses an article in The Sunday Telegraph to back a like-for-like replacement of the current Trident submarine system as the best option for Britain.

He warns that alternative systems being studied by the Liberal Democrats would carry enormous financial, technical and strategic risk  and could even risk triggering a nuclear war.

Sources said the cuts proposed to special forces support were an option being considered by the military because certain roles would not be needed after the withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan, scheduled to take place by the end of 2014.

Some military figures are unhappy about the latest plan. One said the decisions in the SDSR would be completely undermined if it was implemented and added: This is absolutely bonkers  it will institutionalise overstretch within the UKs special forces at a time when they have been operating, and need to continue to operate, at a high tempo.

Jim Murphy, the shadow defence secretary, said: These very specialised, high-end forces, which the UK now needs more than ever, are being made redundant at the same time as ministers hail their importance. Prime ministerial promises to support defence seem even more worthless.

Mr Hammond, meanwhile, backs moves to keep a continuous nuclear deterrent at sea. It offers Britain more freedom of manoeuvre in a crisis, while the Trident missile system provides range and endurance, he argues.

Replacing Trident would cost around five to six per cent of the annual defence budget, which would be affordable and would enhance links with the US, which uses the same system, according to Mr Hammond.

His comments come days after Danny Alexander, the Lib Dem Treasury Chief Secretary, said a direct replacement for Trident was not financially realistic.

#1
There's an old book by Chris Ryan who was in the SAS "The One That Got Away". The book received a fair amount of criticism because of some things thay Ryan said in his account. Just the same ... his basic accomplishments for E&E were outstanding. The thing that amazed me about that book was how little support was given to the SAS when they first deployed to the Gulf (First Gulf War). Guys were scrounging for all kinds of equipment, including firearms and rifles. That's insane. Looks like Britain may be going back to that stage again.

German = Allemaigney Bad Boyz are increasingly non-Foreign or non-Foreign born converts to Islam + Salafism from traditionally Western religions. IOW, GERMAN YOUNG PEOPLE ARE UNHAPPY WID GERMAN ANDOR WESTERN LIBERAL SECULARISM.

* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > IS THIS THE FIRST STEP TOWARD AN INDEPENDENT WHITE REPUBLIC IN THE US? | [Independent.CO.UK] AMERICA - GUN-TOTING RIGHTS TAKEN TO THE HILLS. [US] LIBERTARIANS ARE PLANNING TO SET UP SELF-SUFFICIENT COMMUNITIES TO TURN THEIR BACKS ON BARACK OBAMA'S AMERICA.

Once again, Year 2014 = formal request by US State-Local Govts, NOT just Citizen-Resident Individuals, to SECEDE from the US Federal Union of States, as dependent on what happens between the BAMMER-VS-CHINA-IRAN + US-WORLD ECON DURING THIS YEAR 2013.

FED DENIAL OF RIGHT TO SECEDE = RISE OF ARMED REBELLION + MILITANCY IN THE US???

The nine members of the jury arrived at the most severe conclusion possible for Mohamed el Badoui: the knifeman of Sant Antoni tried to kill nine people in cold blood and behind their backs and did the same with Antonio Bonet. The decision means the accused faces a possible sentence of 84 years in prison, which is what the state prosecutor, Ruth González, has requested since the beginning of the trial and the private prosecutor, Ascensión Joaniquet.

None of the members of the jury accepted the principal contention of the defence: that El Badoui acted on 23 February 2011 under the influence of a mental disorder which led him to feel that the people he came across were attacking him and that eliminated his capacity for reason. In fact, only one of the jury members even accepted that mental illness should even be considered a mitigating factor. Faced with the contradictory explanations of the psychologists and psychiatrists who testified in the trial, the jury members placed more trust in the testimony of the various witnesses who indicated that El Badoui was aware of what he was doing at every moment and that he selected his victims in such a way that he avoided citizens of North African origin, which in no case did he make a move as if to attack.

[Jpost] A German Islamist has threatened to attack Berlin this summer and kill Chancellor Angela Merkel...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... in a video posted on the Internet, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

A front man for Germany's intelligence service, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, confirmed its agents had seen such a video.

"This is an Islamist battle song. It is known to the security services and is being evaluated," said the front man.

Die Welt newspaper reported that a three-minute video had surfaced on the Internet with a German Islamist calling himself Abu Azzam, believed to be a radical Salafist who moved to Egypt last year.

"Looking back at an Arab spring, we are looking forward to a European summer," said Abu Azzam in the video, according to the newspaper.

"Osama, wait for us... We want to see Obama and Merkel dead," he was quoted as saying, adding that Germany's Reichstag parliament building would be subject to attacks like those on New York's World Trade Center in 2001.

#1
Islamists threaten to attack everybody. Remember Saddam? he was a mite hysterical and waving his arms about and later they put a bag over his head and that was a short. But then Islam is always shouting about the next mother of all battles. The Palestinians do that all the time. But mostly Moslems just kill each other or burn down girl schools. Its in their theological DNA. Moslem values, you know.

I think its safe to say that the Islamists have their work cut out for them and they better get busy about that knocking on the door. They seem to be having a rough week of it in Egypt and Mali and a "few" other places.

But then that is what Jihad seems to get you. Bend over, Abdrool, its on the way.

#2
Islamists threaten all kinds of things. They get their way when people are weak and do not stand up to their intimidation. When people are strong and stand up to the bullying, the Islamists go away back to their caves.

More moves by The Smartest Man in the Room and his clever henchpeople. Remember when y'all thought we should vote for him, O Europe? This is your reward: you got what you wanted. Enjoy.

[Jpost] Germany and Italia have told the United States they expect it to fulfill its obligations after the US Congress blocked funding for a missile defense program involving the three countries, Germany said on Saturday.

A defense bill passed by Congress in December prohibited a final US payment of $400.9 million for development of the Medium Extended Air and Missile Defense System, known as MEADS, which is being developed by Lockheed Martin with partners in Italia and Germany. US politicians said Washington has no plans to produce the system.

The United States, Italia and Germany have spent about $4 billion to develop MEADS over the past decade as a successor to the Patriot missile defense system.

The White House raised concerns about the bill before its approval, warning that a ban on MEADS funding could harm Washington's broader relationship with its allies.

#6
...I'm inclined to think that our Allies thought that the President was saying one thing to keep the base quiet and would do something else entirely when it came down to it.

Well, as was pointed out, they got exactly what they wanted, and now they're scared. I've said this before and I'll say it again - NONE of the NATO allies (with the very qualified exception of the UK) have capable militaries any more. They have mostly administrative units plus what amount to a few very heavily armed paramilitary police units, and that's IT. We're supposed to be protecting them while they enjoy the Millennium, and they're now starting to consider the awful possibility that we aren't going to any more. NATO has no, repeat NO requirements for any US units to be based there...and it may be dawning on the Allies that what was once unthinkable - the withdrawal of all but a couple of token units from continental Europe - is now far more possible than they ever dreamed.

#8
:imho ON.
The US interest in MEADS is to prevent IRAN from blackmailing Europe into standing aside to Iranian moves in the Middle east that are not in Europe's interest. No MEADS means that Europe has to either standup for itself or "go gentle into that good night" that Dylan Thomas spoke of.
:imho OFF.

[Dawn] The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Saturday dismissed a recent report by a global human rights watchdog, calling it a "pack of lies, propaganda-driven and totally biased."

The report by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) had accused Pakistani security forces of allowing extremist groups to attack minorities.

"It is yet another attempt to malign Pakistan and its institutions through fabricated and unverified reports, completely favouring an anti-Pakistan agenda," said a statement by the ISPR, the public relations wing of the Pakistani military.

"The HRW report seems to be a clear attempt to further fuel already ongoing sectarian violence and to create chaos and disorder in Pakistan," it added.

In its report, the HRW had accused the Pakistani military of continuing to "perpetrate abuses with impunity in Balochistan and beyond", with the government "unable or unwilling to break the links of military and intelligence agencies with extremist groups."

The ISPR hit back Saturday, critcising the rights watchdog for raising controversies through biased reports, and favouring an anti-Pakistan agenda through "funding from certain quarters."

"HRW has no credibility and has been criticised world wide for raising controversies through its biased reports and funding from certain quarters and its reports have been rejected by many countries of the world," said the ISPR statement.

On the occasion, the governor said that the country's armed forces are considered "one of the best forces in the world", adding that they have great capabilities to protect geographical boundaries of the country.

He also stated that the present government is completing its tenure in a "dignified manner and is determined to hold free and transparent election".

Earlier, a seven-member Indonesian media delegation met the governor. The governor told the delegation that media is "totally independent and free in Pakistain".

And then his lips fell off...

"The media has played a pivotal role for democracy in the country, restoration of independent judiciary and strengthening of parliament."

[Dawn] Authorities have postponed an anti-polio...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... campaign, scheduled to start in Bloody Karachi...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... from Feb 4, due to law and order concerns in the metropolis.

Bloody Karachi EDO Health Dr Imdadullah Siddiqui said the campaign was postponed due to the city's deteriorating security situation and the non-availability of health workers.

The campaign was scheduled to start in Bloody Karachi and the rest of the province from Feb 4-6.

Siddiqui said that security personnel were busy assisting Election Commission workers in the voter verification process in Bloody Karachi, and were therefore currently unavailable to provide security to the health workers.

He added that polio workers constantly received death threats and could not initiate the campaign without adequate security.

Israel is considering creating a buffer zone reaching up to 10 miles inside Syria, The Sunday Times quoted sources close to military planners as saying.

The Times reported that the proposal, intended to protect itself from rebels across the northern frontier, has been presented to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

A buffer zone set up with the co-operation of local villagers lies at the heart of the plan. If the country remains unstable we might have to stay there for years, The Times quoted a military planner as saying.

A security fence is currently being erected from Mount Avital south to the point where the Israeli, Syrian and Jordanian borders meet on the southern Golan Heights, but, according to the military source, a buffer zone is necessary to prevent daily mortar and rocket attacks.

"We knew then that there was a strongman in Damascus. But not any more. The new wall will be good when its ready but without the buffer zone mortar and rocket attacks on Israel would be a daily event," The Times quoted the military source as saying.

The prime minister was previously quoted as saying Israel needs to construct a border fence with Syria on the Golan Heights because the Syrian army has moved away from the frontier, and global jihad elements have moved into the area in its place.

#5
Is this 10 miles beyond the current demarcation of the Golan, or 10 miles beyond the 1967 border? I can't tell from the article.

The former would be seen by most of the world as a provocation, even though we at the Burg would understand. The latter is just the usual; the world doesn't recognize Israel's annexation of the Syrian Golan seized in '67 but it's a fact on the ground.

[An Nahar] A senior Iranian security official visiting Damascus...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... on Saturday pledged Tehran's full support for the Syrian regime, its close ally, Syrian state television... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
said.

"We will give all our support so that Syria remains firm and able to face all the arrogant (Western) conspiracies," said Saeed Jalili, who heads the Supreme National Security Council.

"The Israeli aggression and arrogant international forces have tried to take Dire Revenge™ by attacking the resisting Syrian people," said Jalili, who said Israel and the West had turned "desperate."

Jalili was referring to an alleged Israeli air strike on Wednesday that a U.S. official said hit a military complex and missiles near the Syrian capital.

The Syrian army said the raid, which the Jewish state has not confirmed or denied, targeted a military research center located between Damascus and the Lebanese border.

Israel fears Syrian weapons could be sent to Hizbullah, a close ally of Damascus and Tehran.

Jalili said "the Arab and Mohammedan worlds must do all they can to diminish the Syrian people's suffering because Syria is at the forefront of the struggle against Zionist aggression."

In a separate statement carried by state news agency SANA, he criticized "Syria's enemies who aim to undermine the resistance...by attacking Syria's infrastructure and by pursuing their economic sanctions."

"The Mohammedan world will not allow an attack against Syria," Jalili warned.

Jalili, who last visited Damascus in August, met with Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi and discussed "cooperation in the economic, fuel and electricity sectors", SANA said.

Jalili also met on Saturday with national reconciliation minister Ali Haidar, and was due to also hold talks with Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-AssadDespoiler of Deraa... and Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem, Iranian officials in Damascus told Agence La Belle France Presse.

Jalili is Iran's top nuclear negotiator and a close aide to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran has backed Assad's accusation that the 22-month uprising against his regime is politically, financially and militarily backed by the United States, Turkey, Soddy Arabia...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... and Qatar.

[An Nahar] Batroun MP Butros Harb lauded on Saturday State commissioner to the military court Judge Saqr Saqr for "taking the bold decision" to charge Mahmoud Hayek with the attempt on his life.

Saqr "took a courageous decision given the pressure ... exerted by Hizbullah on the judiciary by striking deals at the expense of justice and the investigation," Harb told al-Joumhouria newspaper.

He expressed regret however that some judicial and political officials had tried to strike a deal with Hizbullah.

Harb hoped that "the course of justice would not be subdued by political deals."

Saqr charged on Monday Hayek, a Hizbullah member, with the liquidation attempt on Harb in July 2012 and with carrying out acts of terror.

If convicted the suspect, who still remains on the lam, could be sentenced to death.

The March 14 opposition politician escaped the liquidation bid after residents of a building in which his office is located in the Beirut district of Badaro discovered individuals trying to booby-trap the elevator.

A string of high-level liquidations struck Leb between 2004 and 2008, targeting political, media and security figures who vocally opposed the Syrian government, including former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri who was killed in a powerful boom-mobile blast in February 2005.

"I reminded Khatib that after the creation of the coalition and the appointment of their leader, we immediately demonstrated our interest in maintaining regular contact," Lavrov said after the meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

"We will make that happen," he added.

Lavrov had earlier Saturday held separate talks with U.S. Vice President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid BidenThe former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body... and U.N.-Arab League...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy Lakhdar Brahimi amid strong disagreement between Moscow and Washington about ways to end the Syria conflict.

Khatib, elected as the head of the coalition late last year, made a surprise announcement Wednesday that his group was ready for dialogue with the Damascus...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... regime under certain conditions. He renewed the proposal in Munich, while rejecting the presence of leaders he said had "blood on their hands."

Lavrov said Moscow "welcomed" the initiative, adding: "If we take into account the fact that the coalition was founded on the refusal to engage in a dialogue with the regime, it's a very important step."

The minister said it meant that "realism prevails," adding that "thinking is headed in the right direction."

Russia's top diplomat also said Moscow shared Washington's concern about the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria but considered the situation to be safe at this stage.

[Ynet] Syrian State TV airs images of Damascus...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat...-adjacent research center allegedly 'flattened' by IAF

Video at link. Lots of shattered windows and very dead cars and trucks. That must have been a heck of a convoy...

Syria's state-run television channel aired first images of the site allegedly targeted by Israel last week.

The images, aired on Saturday, show the damage caused by what Syria claims was an overnight air raid against the Jamraya scientific research base on the outskirts of Damascus.

Jamarya is located several dozens of miles northwest of Damascus. Time magazine reported Friday that "The center was flattened out of concern that it might fall into the hands of Islamist snuffies fighting to topple the government of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-AssadHorror of Homs...US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity... for fear of being murdered..., said the raid targeted a convoy of trucks carrying surface-to-air missiles from a military complex suspected of housing chemical agents towards the Lebanese border.

While both Jerusalem and Washington refrained from commenting on reports of the alleged strike, US security officials were quoted by several top American media outlets as saying that Israel informed the US about its intentions, adding that the target was a shipment of SA-17 anti-aircraft weapons that could cut into Israel's ability to fly reconnaissance flights over Leb.

SA-17s are highly sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles, which would be strategically "game-changing" in the hands of Hezbollah.

Syria, Leb and the rest of the Arab world, were unanimous in their condemnation of the alleged strike.

Damascus announced it "reserves the right to retaliate," adding that numerous air-defense battalions - particularly those deployed in the area stretching between the Syrian capital and the Lebanese border -- were placed on high alert.

Iran said that it will "Lend its full support to Syria to keep it strong. The Arab world has to do everything it can to minimize the suffering of the Syrian people as they fight against Israel's aggressions and the international community's arrogance."

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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